Archive for autoimmune disease

It’s no secret that drinking too much alcohol can cause a hangover. Have you ever wondered what goes on inside your body that could cause so much suffering? The facts are intriguing, and may even change how much you drink.

While we don’t know why all the symptoms of hangover occur, scientists have uncovered some unique facts behind the physiology of the common symptoms.

Vasopressin Inhibition: Enter Dehydration

Alcohol consumption blocks the production of vasopressin, a hormone that promotes water absorption in the body. Without enough vasopressin, the body sends water directly to the kidneys for elimination. Ever notice how much you run to the restroom when you’re out for drinks? Studies have shown that drinking about 250ml of an alcoholic beverage causes the body to expel 800 to 1000ml of water; a four-to-one loss!

This diuretic effect helps create the fatigue and dry mouth. And that headache? During dehydration, the body’s organs steal water from the brain, causing it to reduce in size and pull on the membranes connecting it to the skull. Ouch!

Frequent urination also depletes the body of magnesium and potassium, critical for proper muscle and nerve function, a lack of which can lead to headaches, fatigue and nausea.

Glycogen Breakdown

Alcohol breaks down the body’s store of glycogen, a key energy source, turning it into glucose that gets expelled in the urine. The resulting lack of glycogen is partly responsible for the next day’s weakness, fatigue, and lack of coordination.

The amount of alcohol consumed isn’t the only factor; what kind of alcohol you drink affects you, too. Alcohol contains congeners, toxic byproducts of fermentation. The greatest amounts are found in red wine and dark liquors such as bourbon, brandy, and whiskey, while less is found in clear liquors such as vodka and gin. White wine has the least. Combining different kinds of alcohol compounds the toxic effect. Finally, the carbonation in beer speeds up alcohol absorption; following beer with liquor puts extra strain on the liver to deal with the added toxins, hence the phrase, “Beer before liquor; never sicker.”

Glutathione: Your Hangover Prevention Ally

A product of alcohol that is more toxic than alcohol itself, acetaldehyde, is created when liver breaks down alcohol. The body attacks it with a powerful antioxidant called glutathione. When we drink in moderation, the levels of glutathione in the liver can keep up with the need for detoxification; we feel fine the next day. When we drink too much, the liver’s store of glutathione depletes quickly, allowing toxic acetaldehyde to build.

Glutathione is our body’s most powerful antioxidant; this enzyme is integral for regulating the immune system, and is on the front line of fighting destruction from oxidative stress in the body. You need it to function well. When glutathione is depleted, it sets the stage for destructive inflammatory processes; in fact, studies show a direct correlation between a breakdown in the glutathione system and autoimmune disease.

Glutamine Rebound

The fatigue, stomach irritation, and general malaise that hangovers deliver have been tracked to glutamine rebound. While you drink, alcohol inhibits glutamine, one of the body’s natural stimulants. When you stop drinking, the body responds by producing more than it needs. The increased glutamine stimulates the brain, preventing deep, refreshing levels of sleep, which results in fatigue the next day. Severe glutamine rebound may also be responsible for hangover tremors, anxiety, restlessness, and increased blood pressure.

Alcohol Contributes to Leaky Gut

Alcohol can contribute in a variety of ways to leaky gut, a condition where the lining of the intestinal tract becomes over-permeable, allowing foreign particles into the bloodstream and promoting inflammation throughout the body.

For instance, alcohol reduces the body’s production of prostaglandins, substances that help control inflammation. Suppression of prostaglandins allows systemic inflammation to increase, which can trigger or contribute to leaky gut.

Heavy alcohol consumption also damages the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, reducing the body’s ability to extract nutrients from food. This can lead to micronutrient deficiencies that help drive various chronic disease states.

As you can see, excessive alcohol consumption has some pretty serious effects on the body; our casual cultural mindset about the consequences –- a hangover –- gloss over the ugly truth of what happens inside the body when we over-consume alcohol.

Ask me for hangover prevention and remedy ideas from the world of functional medicine.

Do you have chronic pain, chronic fatigue, or other mysterious symptoms that make you miserable? But does your doctor say your lab tests are fine and you’re perfectly healthy? It could be you have an autoimmune reaction and don’t know it.

People can develop an autoimmune reaction to virtually any tissue, enzyme, or protein in their body. Autoimmunity means the immune system has failed to distinguish between foreign invaders, which it was designed to attack, and body tissue, which it was designed to protect. As a result, the immune system attacks and destroys specific parts of the body.

Symptoms of autoimmunity vary depending on which part of the body is being attacked, but they often include chronic pain, chronic fatigue, brain fog, poor neurological function, chronic inflammation, digestive problems, or poor mood.

A primary characteristic of undiagnosed autoimmunity is chronic pain, chronic fatigue, or other symptoms that seem irresolvable, despite “normal” lab tests and scans. Perhaps you even have been told your health symptoms are due to depression and you need to take antidepressants—this is not uncommon.

Autoimmunity may not be diagnosed as disease

What may be happening is that you have an autoimmune reaction to one or more parts of your body that is causing chronic pain, chronic fatigue, or other symptoms, but the condition is not advanced enough to be diagnosed through conventional testing and qualified as a “disease.” As Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MNeuroSci, author of Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?and Why Isn’t My Brain Working? explains, people can have symptoms years or even decades before being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

For instance, a person may have trouble controlling blood sugar despite a good diet because of an autoimmune reaction in the pancreas. However, not enough tissue has been destroyed for a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Or a person can have symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but not enough tissue has been destroyed for it to show up on an MRI. Or persistent and severe adrenal fatigue could be the result of autoimmunity in the adrenal glands not advanced enough to be diagnosed as Addison’s disease.

This is not to say you should assume a health problem is autoimmune in nature, but when it is persistent and stubborn, it is a possibility to consider.

You can test for autoimmunity before it progresses to disease

Fortunately, we have autoimmunity testing today that can screen for antibodies against multiple tissues to determine whether an autoimmune reaction is causing chronic pain, chronic fatigue, or other symptoms. Antibodies are proteins that tag a foreign compound for the immune system to destroy and remove. When you produce higher than normal levels of antibodies to certain parts of the body (it’s normal for old and dying cells to be tagged for removal), this means you are having an autoimmune reaction against that tissue or enzyme.

When a person presents with chronic pain, chronic fatigue, or other persistent symptoms, screening for an autoimmune reaction can help us determine whether that plays a role in symptoms. If so, we then know we can work on balancing an overzealous and improperly functioning immune system. Also, if your test shows an autoimmune reaction but you have no symptoms, you now know that proper diet and lifestyle choices will help prevent the progression of autoimmunity.

Today we have many scientifically proven strategies to tame autoimmunity, improve function, and increase your well being. These include an autoimmune diet and nutritional compounds to balance the immune system and quench inflammation.

Ask me how I can help you get to the bottom of mysterious conditions, such as chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and other symptoms.

Despite what your doctor may have told you, you are not making up your chronic symptoms or simply in need of antidepressants.